STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Off-the-cuff comments made by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly in defense of the city's controversial stop-and-frisk policy have earned praise from some Staten Island lawmakers, who defended the policing tactics.

But other elected officials said the commissioner's words were an attempt to shift the focus from a punitive and demeaning practice that has come under legal scrutiny for potentially violating civil rights statutes.

"There doesn't seem to be any major community response. Many of them will speak out about stop and frisk [but are] shockingly silent when it comes to the level of violence right in their own communities," Kelly said Monday at an event in Harlem, where he discussed the recent crime wave in the city and the persistent problem of violence in some communities.

That uptick in the crime rate has also hit Staten Island, which has had five homicides so far this year.

In his remarks, Kelly said some elected officials are quick to criticize, but have done little to tackle the problem in their own communities: "I think there should be an outcry that 96 percent of the shooting victims in this city are black or Latino. ... There should be a huge outcry, but there isn't."

In 2011, police made 23,668 street stops in Staten Island's three precincts, and 14 percent of those ended in either an arrest or a summons. That arrest rate was higher in the North Shore's 120th Precinct, which saw 19 percent of stops ending in arrest, compared to 9 percent in the Mid-Island's 122nd Precinct and the South Shore's 123rd Precinct.

In the 120th Precinct, roughly 18.1 percent of those stopped and frisked were white, while 55.5 percent were black, and 24.1 percent were Hispanic.

In the 122nd Precinct, roughly 58.9 percent of those stopped by police last year were white, while 15.5 percent were black and 17.7 percent Hispanic.

In the 123rd Precinct, 82.3 percent of those stopped were white, 5.4 percent black and 10.2 percent Hispanic, according to an analysis of NYPD statistics done by the Advance.

"I thought it was an effort to deflect the criticism stop and frisk has come under," said City Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore). She detailed some of her office's initiatives to address crime, among them "I Am Staten Island," which engages young people in cross-cultural conversation and community building, and "49 Strong," which brings positive role models to North Shore communities. "All of this has been a very proactive response to gun violence," Ms. Rose added.

Much of what she finds troubling about stop and frisk is the way the practice plays out in some neighborhoods. "The whole issue of stop, question and frisk is one of respect, " she said. "If the Police Department instituted stop, question and frisk along with their motto of courtesy, professionalism and respect, that would be something different."

Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) said he understands some of the wariness over stop and frisk, considering the historic precedent in certain communities for young people to be "tossed and thrown up against the wall." But he defended Kelly's law enforcement expertise and lauded stop and frisk as an important way to keep crime down.

"[The NYPD] is a department of 35,000 cops; there's a range of courtesy, professionalism and respect, and some probably do it the right way all the time, and some don't; I understand that," he said. "But I agree with Ray Kelly. Every day he gets up and he tries to keep new Yorkers safe from terrorists and thugs alike."

Oddo said he has even asked police to step up stop-and-frisk searches in his district, but has been told resources are deployed to neighborhoods with the highest incidence of violence.

"I went to the Police Department and gave them two hot spots in my district. I'm looking at stuff happening along Sand Lane, on Midland Avenue," he said. "When done correctly and intelligently, stop and frisk is a useful law enforcement tool. I would welcome it."

"It seems hypocritical to criticize the police for utilizing stop and frisk to take guns off the street, and then decry when guns are left on the street and end up killing innocent victims," Ignizio said. "How do you get the guns off the street if you can't utilize tactics that get guns off the street?" he asked.

District Attorney Daniel Donovan noted that to effectively bring down the crime rate, government, city agencies and community members need to cooperate.

Said Donovan: "I think what has been lost in all of the political posturing is the thrust of Commissioner Kelly's comments: We all have to work together to stem crime in our communities. We cannot simply rely on the police. We need residents to help us keep our communities safe.

"We need to reject the perilous culture of 'Stop Snitchin" and replace that with 'Start Talking.' ... In all of our endeavors, we are most successful when brave citizens step forward and help us -- whether it's ridding the South Shore of illicit prescription pill dealers, solving burglaries in the Mid-Island, or preventing gun violence on the North Shore."

Ed Josey, who heads the Staten Island chapter of the NACP, rejected Kelly's criticism, noting that he and other Island leaders have consistently raised their voices against violence after shootings on the North Shore.

"I really don't think that's fair, to say the black community is taking this sitting down," he said. "I don't think that's a fair statement on his part."

Josey recalled rallies decrying gun violence, including one in March 2011 after Corey McGriff, a 32-year-old hip-hop disc jockey who went by the name DJ Megatron, was shot and killed.

"I don't know if [Kelly] was at the rallies when we discussed the shooting of Megatron," Josey said.